Wolf's Call (Wolves Next Door #2) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,148

going. "He changed. He, um, became a thing and chased Mason out of the building. It's why no one else got shot!"

"Oh, shit," Seth said, and all of us shared a look, because that phrase was the only one that worked today.

Then Roman tapped Gabby's arm. "The cops have Ian."

He pointed, and sure enough, a group of them were leading him towards a police car. Then I saw the "dog" at his side. Before I could think, before I could realize how stupid this might be, I left my daughter, the boy bleeding in the back seat of Trent's truck, and all the other kids - and I just ran toward him.

"Ian!" I yelled.

He paused, looking at me. "Elena, have you heard anything?"

"Gabby's ok," I told him.

"Red," Ian ordered, sounding like he was talking to a dog. "Go to Elena. Good boy."

"Red, come," I yelled, hoping that was what he wanted. Lane galloped over toward me and sat, acting like a perfectly-mannered pet, so I bent to ruffle the fur around his neck and breathed, "Please tell me they think you're a dog."

He licked the side of my face, which I could only assume meant that was a yes. So, patting my leg like it was a command, I closed the distance to the officers. Lane just moved with me, going so far as to wag his tail like he was happy.

"This is my girlfriend," Ian explained. "Elena's daughter is one of the kids here, which is who called me. So, yeah, I never made it to the store, but it worked out."

"Ok." The policeman with him turned to me. "Are you willing to take responsibility for the dog? Mr. Langdon's going to need to go to the station and answer a few questions."

"Yeah, sure..." I agreed. "Ian, are you ok?"

"I'm fine," he insisted. "How are the kids?"

"They're ok," I promised. "Shaken up and scared, but they're all going to be ok. Gabby was with her friends, and we found Lucy and a boy she knows. Ashley's getting in touch with all the parents, letting everyone know when we find their child. Sounds like they're all ok, though. A few scrapes and bumps, but Gabby doesn't think the boy killed anyone."

"Good," Ian breathed. "He kept telling me that Red was a werewolf. I think the kid was disturbed."

I realized he was giving me a big hint. "Yeah. Um, call if you need me to pick you up?"

"Actually..." He looked at the cops. "Can I have her drive my truck home? I think one of you has my keys."

The police shared a look, then one of them nodded. "Sure. Ma'am, we'll need your name and information, but it sounds like they got the only shooter, and all of the stories are confirming it. Still, if we have any questions, we'd like to get in touch with you."

So I traded my phone number and name for Ian's keys. Once that was done, the Pack Alpha was put into the back seat of a police car, but I was allowed to take Lane with me. This was going to be ok. Just normal procedure now, I hoped. Everything should be fine, and all of our kids seemed to be ok.

Without thinking, I reached down to rest my hand on the soft fur between Lane's ears. "Thank you," I told him. "I don't even know what you did yet, but I know you did something."

He just leaned his head against my leg, but it said enough. We were going to be ok. Thanks to them - my boyfriends, the kids, and all the wolves in the pack - everyone was going to end up ok.

CHAPTER 43

It took a while to get everyone out of the school. Slowly, one by one, the kids found the rest, and we kept sending messages to parents. Most had shown up. Others were still on their way. A few couldn't make it here and were losing their minds. Ashley took pictures of their children just to make them feel better, and promised that we had them. We'd take care of them, so all the parents needed to do was go home.

Eventually, we were allowed to leave. Trent said he and Pax would take Xander straight to Dr. Bridget. Roman grabbed his car and gave a ride to another boy who lived close by. Ashley ended up with a group of girls and a boy I didn't know, and Seth offered to ride with her. I got Gabby and Olivia,